At around 6:45 pm on June 14, 2011, EPA R6 Duty Officer was notified by OSC Smalley of a fire and explosion at a chemical blending and storage facility in New Iberia La. OSC Smalley was working on another site when learned of the incident through the local news and LDEQ counterparts working with him. The Duty Officer contacted LDEQ ER team for additional information indicating that the fire and explosion was at an oil field chemicals blending and storage warehouse and that they were onsite conducting air monitoring. Also, La State Police Hazmat was the lead responding agency deciding to let the fire burn out overnight and that they ordered an evacuation of a 1 mile radius as a precaution. The site is located within an industrial area with few residential properties around.
At 8:30 pm EPA R6 received from the NRC report no. 979692 regarding the incident. The incident occurred at around 3:45 pm but it was not reported to the NRC until later. On June 15, OSC Smalley, is en route to the incident to assist and coordinate with LDEQ any response activites.
